Senior Software Engineer (AI Infrastructure)

About The Role What if your engineering skills could directly shape the platforms and systems behind the AI revolution? We're looking for Senior Software Engineers in Lisbon and across Portugal to design, build, and scale the infrastructure that powers cutting-edge AI products used by millions of people worldwide.

This is high-impact, technically challenging work — the kind that keeps great engineers engaged. You'll tackle real architectural problems, write code that matters, and collaborate with some of the sharpest minds in AI research and engineering.

This is a fully remote, flexible contract role. If you're an experienced engineer who thrives on autonomy, writes clean and scalable code, and wants to work at the frontier of technology — we want to hear from you.

• Organization: Alignerr
• Type: Hourly Contract
• Location: Remote
• Commitment: 20–40 hours/week

What You'll Do

• Design, develop, and maintain production-grade software systems that support AI training, evaluation, and deployment pipelines
• Write clean, well-tested, and performant code in Python, TypeScript, or other modern languages
• Build and optimize APIs, data pipelines, and backend services that operate reliably at scale
• Architect solutions that balance speed of delivery with long-term maintainability
• Troubleshoot complex technical issues across distributed systems and cloud infrastructure
• Collaborate asynchronously with cross-functional teams — including ML engineers, researchers, and product managers
• Participate in code reviews and contribute to engineering best practices across the team
• Work independently on well-scoped projects with meaningful ownership and autonomy

Who You Are

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language — Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, Go, Java, or similar
• Solid understanding of software architecture, design patterns, and system design principles
• Experience building and deploying backend services, APIs, or data-intensive applications
• Comfortable working with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerized environments
• Familiar with version control (Git), CI/CD workflows, and modern development tooling
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills — you can navigate ambiguity and find root causes efficiently
• Excellent written communication skills — you can document decisions, explain tradeoffs, and collaborate effectively in an async-first environment
• Self-directed and reliable — you manage your own time and deliver consistently without close supervision

Nice to Have

• Experience with ML/AI infrastructure — training pipelines, model serving, data annotation platforms, or evaluation frameworks
• Familiarity with large-scale data processing tools (Spark, Kafka, Airflow, or similar)
• Background in distributed systems, microservices architecture, or event-driven design
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Pulumi) or Kubernetes
• Contributions to open-source projects or a public portfolio of technical work
• Previous experience in a remote-first or async-heavy engineering culture

Why Join Us

• Work on cutting-edge AI infrastructure alongside world-class research labs and engineering teams
• Fully remote and flexible — set your own schedule and work from anywhere
• Tackle genuinely hard technical problems with real-world impact at scale
• High autonomy and ownership — no micromanagement, just meaningful engineering work
• Collaborate with a global community of top-tier engineers and researchers
• Potential for ongoing work, expanded scope, and long-term contract extension as projects grow